Method of making paper napkins



c. P. WINTER; METHOD 0? MAKING PAPSR NAPKINS. PPPPP CATION FILED JULY 8, I92].

1 42,5,@71 mmedm s, 1922 untrue era ear orator.

@QUR'ILNEY 1?. WINTER, @13 NEW BRUNSWICK, NW JERSEY.

METBIGD @li MAKING PAPER NAPKINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented n e, 1922.

stlpplication filed July 8, 1921. Serial Ito. 483,213.

individually and in packages, folded napkins are considered more desirable and more salable than unfolded napkins. Foldedpaper napkins have heretofore been produced by machinery and from a rollof paper, but by methods which fail to accumulate the napkins in piles or stacks with suflicient accuracy to insure uniformity and neatness without the expenditure of a prohibited amount of time and labor in straightening out the stacks. It is of great importance in dealing with the article here in discussion to put it on the market in neat packages and it is a primary object of my invention to improve the method of making folded napkins to obviate the difficulty referred to above and to insure stacking of the folded napkins in uniform neat piles.

With this object in view, my invention consists broadly in completing the folding of a web of paper, preferably by machinery,

before performlng the cutting operations which separate the napkins one from the other. By proceeding in this manner, the web of paper is maintained .in a unitary state until all" of the folding is completed and the pile of na kins is formed; and by reason of the continuity of the web during the folding and piling operations, the unsevered napkins mutually support and align one another so as to render possible the formation of a uniform and accurately registered pile or stack When this stage has been reached, or when the pile has been formed, l separate the napkins by cutting through the whole pile by any suitable means, preferably by means of a paper outtin band saw. The particular manner of fol ing a web of paper so that napkins of the described character will be produced by simply cutting through the pile, is of course an important feature of my invention; and so far as l am aware it has never heretofore been proposed to completely fold and pile the napkins before severing the same.

In the accompanying drawings, l have shown by way of illustration, two ways of carrying out my method. ln these drawig 1 shows in perspective the folding and plllng steps of one manner of carrying out the method;

Fig. 2 shows the cutting step for completing the method started in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is-a view of a napkin opened out 7 andshowing the position of the folds;

Fig. 4 shows in. perspective another manner of folding the web; and

Fig. 5 shows the lines upon which the pile of Fig. 4 is cut to form the completed napkins.

Beferrin to Fig. l, 1 represents a roll of paper 0 any suitable character for maklng paper napkins. According to my method this roll of paper is continuously unwound and drawn off in the form of a web 2 and continuously folded by any suitable folding means along its longitudinal median as at 3. This first longitudinal fold comprises for the entire series of napkins formed from the will, the first fold of the so-called square or double fold (see Fig. 3). By any suitable means well known in the art, the longitudinally folded web is then subjected to zig-zag folding to form a pile of superimposedunsevered napkins, having double or l-pl folds i, 5 at two opposite sldes. of the pi e, single or 2-ply folds 6 at one side of the pile and free edges along the fourth side of the pile. If desired or necessary the pile maybe compacted by any suitable means as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be readily understood that the pile such as has just been described can be converted into two piles of square folded napkins by means of a single out through the entire pile on the line 77 of Fig. 2. A square folded napkin is characterized by one "double or t-ply edge, which corresponds tothe folds-4, 5 of Fig. 1; two superimposed single or 2-ply folds along another edge, which corresponds to two adjacent folds 6; the two remaining sides of the napkin comprisin four; superimposed unfolded edges, as w1l obviously be produced by cutting the pile in ,Fig. 1 in the manner indicated in Fig. 2.

In Fig. a l have shown another manner of carrying out my method whichconsists lllltl die by reason of the free edges 10.

in forming a double longitudinal fold at 8 and 9, the edges 10 of the web being folded over on the longitudinal median of the web. Preferably a small interval is left between the edges 10 to allow for the width of the cut hereinafter referred to. This longitudinally folded Web is then transversely folded in the zig-zag manner as hereinbefore described in connection with Fig. 1 and a pile of superimposed unsevered napkins formed substantially. as before described. In the pile formed as in Fig. 4 however, there are on two opposite faces (of which 11 is one) a series of superimposed double or 4-ply folds, broken however at the mid- In this instance there are single or 2-ply folds on both of the remaining Sides of the pile.

In Fig. 5 a top view of the pile is shown and the lines 1212, 13-13 indicate the cuts which will be given to the pile formed as shown'in Fig. a. When so cut, four piles of napkins (14, 1 5, 16, 17) will be formed .and these napkins will have precisely the same form and will be folded in the same manner as the napkins formed as in Figs. 1 and 2 and illustrated in Fig. 3, By means of this last described manner of carrying out my invention, twice as many napkins can be made simultaneously and of the same dimensions by employing a web of paper twice as wide as that shown in .Fig. 1.

By reason of the fact that all of the folding operations are completed before the napkins are severed, I am enabled to maintain absolute control of the web of paper until the pile is completed, thus, insuring a smooth and uniform registration of the superimposed napkins. Much neater packages can be economically made from napkins formed by my method and the step of severing the napkins is much simplified according to my method as comparedwith old methods in which a separate out is required to sever each pair of napkins and the piling and part of the folding :mr tions are performed after the napkins.

I claim: I

1. The method of making paper napkins which comprises folding a web of paper longitudinally, zig-zag folding said longitudinally folded web to form a pile, and cutting through the pile on the median transverse to the web.

2. The method of making paper napkins which comprises folding aweb of paper longitudinally .to bring its longitudinal edges edges in substantial alignment with the longitudinal median of the web, zigzag folding the web to form a pile, and cutting the pile along its two perpendicular medians.

oonnrnn r r. WINTER:

the severing of- 

